How do companies create flavours like fruits,coffee etc without using actual fruit or coffee?

Question

How do companies create flavours like fruits,coffee etc without using actual fruit or coffee?

In: 1474

Answer 1

They recreate in a lab the compound that gives those things their flavor. Flavors are just molecules that bond to our tongues, sending a signal to our brains, and our brain translates that signal into flavor.

For instance, isoamyl acetate is the molecule our brains most associate with banana. So you take the organic materials you need, make isoamyl acetate, and ymadd that to something and it’s going to taste like banana. Some flavors are more complex, made of multiple compounds, and there’s other flavors in a banana that we can detect. But isoamyl acetate is the key flavor that says “banana” so it’s all banana flavored stuff uses.